Excavating and loading machine



1956 c. w. HEDGECOCK 2,729,002

EXCAVATING AND LOADING MACHINE Filed March 2, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Char/es u. Hedgecoc/c Q INVENTOR. E RY C. W. HEDGECOCK EXCAVATING ANDLOADING MACHINE Jan. 3, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Wad-3w.

Attorney:

Char/es W Hedgecoc/r Filed MarQh 2, 1953 Jan. 3, 1956 c. w. HEDGECOCKEXCAVATING AND LOADING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 2, 1953 .a UM M M m u CT m H 3 mm mm QQ m8 m WE W m aol'llli Unite States Patent2,729,002 EXCAVATIN G AND LOADING MACHINE Charles W. Hedgecock, ElDorado, Ark.

Application March 2, 1953, Serial No. 339,690

2 Claims. (Cl. 37- 190) This invention relates to the class of earthmoving apparatus and more particularly to an excavating and loadingmachine.

An object of this invention is to provide an excavating and loadingmachine capable of excavating, ditching, and loading of gravel, sand,soil and equally adaptable for the loading of other substances such asgrain.

The construction of this invention features the use of a cutting wheelwhich is rotated and by centrifugal force cuts and throws the substancebeing excavated against an enclosing shield which directs the continuousflow of the substance onto a conveyor which carries the material to aloading chute from whence the material may be deposited in a dump truckor other cart or vehicle.

Other specific features of the invention include the means for pivotallyraising and lowering the free end of the conveyor to which there ispivotally and adjustably secured the cutter drum. The cutter drum ismounted by means of a novel cutter carrier consisting of a pair ofspaced cutter crank arms which carry a shaft having a torque converteron which shaft there is mounted the cutter drum. Replaceable cutterblades having teeth are attached to the cutter drum when used in theexcavation of relatively hard materials.

Still further objects and features of the invention reside in theprovision of a loading and excavating machine that is strong anddurable, capable of excavating and loading material at a relatively highrate so as to reduce the cost and time necessary in handling a unitvolumn of material, while being relatively easy and inexpensive tooperate.

These, together with the various ancillary objects and features of theinvention which will become apparent as the following descriptionproceeds, are attained by this excavating and loading machine, apreferred embodiment of which has been illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, by way of example only, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of the excavating and loading machinecomprising the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of this earth moving apparatus;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view as taken along the plane ofline 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional detail view as taken along the plane of line 4-4in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the crank arms and cutting drumcarriers comprising important elements of this invention;

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the drive means for operating thevarious elements of this earth moving apparatus;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of one of the cutter drums used;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the cutter drum employing removableblades with tooth edges; and,

Figure 9 is a sectional view illustrating the cutter drum shown inFigure 8.

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With continuing reference to the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views,reference numeral 10 generally designates a vehicle of suitableconstruction and adapted to provide locomotion for the entire apparatus.The vehicle 10 includes an internal combustion engine 12 or other primemover which can drive wheels 14. The front wheels 16 of the vehicle maybe turned through use of a conventional steering wheel 18 in order todirect the path of travel of the vehicle. A second prime mover 20 iscarried by the vehicle at the front portion thereof for providing motorpower to the cutting drum and conveyor. Upwardly extending from theframe 22 of the vehicle 10 are vertical supporting members 24.

Carried by the supporting members 24 is a shaft 26. Rotatably mounted onthe shaft 26 by means of bearings 28 is a transverse frame member 30 ofchannel construction. Depending from the transverse channel beam 30 arelongitudinally extending channel members 32 which carry a lowertransverse cross-beam 34 to which there is attached bearing blocks 36within which a lower shaft 38 is journalled. Mounted on the shaft 26 arepulleys 40 and mounted on the shaft 38 are pulleys 42 over which theendless chain 44 carrying the endless belt conveyor 46 are entrained.The conveyor 46 is driven by means of the endless chain 48 mounted onthe pulley 50 attached to the drive shaft of the prime mover 20. Theendless belt is entrained over another pulley 52 mounted on the shaft26.

As can be readily seen by an inspection of Figures 3 and 4 there isprovided means for taking up any slack in the chain 46. This includessubstantially L-shaped connecting members 54 which are terminallyattached to the bearing blocks 36 and adjustably attached by means offasteners 56 to L-shaped members 58 urged by the threaded member 60 toan extended position to tighten the chain 46. An upper guard or shield62 is provided for the entire conveyor and hydraulic means for pivotingthe conveyor relative to the vehicle 10 are provided. These hydraulicmeans include a cylinder 64 carried by the vehicle 10 and having apiston therein to which a piston rod 66 is attached, the piston rod 66being mounted on stub shaft 68 for pivotal movement. Hydraulic conduit70 interconnect each end of the cylinder 64 with a hydraulic controlmechanism including a pump as generally indicated at 72. In this mannerthe height of the conveyor and of the elements depending therefrom maybe adjusted.

A cutting drum 74 is keyed to a shaft 76 which is driven through atorque converter 78 by means of an endless belt 80 entrained aboutpulley 82 mounted on the torque converter driving shaft 84. The endlessbelt is entrained about the pulley 86 mounted on a collar 88 driven bymeans of the endless belt 90 which is mounted on the pulley 92. Theendless belt 90 is further entrained about the pulley wheel 94 mountedon a collar 96 and driven by means of the endless belt 98 which isentrained about the pulley 100. The pulley 100 is also mounted on thecollar 96. Power is transmitted by means of the endless belts 102 and104 from the prime mover 20. The torque converter 78 is provided to takeup any shock or an unexpected load were the cutter drum '74 to encounterany unusually hard formations or be subjected to a stoppage by overloador any other reason. The cutter drum 74 is carried by means of a novelcarrier 106 which is formed in two opposed portions each including acrank arm member 108 carrying bearing cups 110 and 112. The bearing cups112 are mounted on the shaft 38 and the bearing cup 110 is connected bymeans of a stub shaft 114 mounted therein to a piston rod 116 of ahydraulically actuated piston, not shown, mounted Within a cylinder 113which is connected by means of asuitaole hydraulic conduits to thehydraulic control mechanism 72. In this manner the cutting drum 74 maybe adjusted to p'edetermine the pitch or cutting angle thereof. Thecrank arm I08 carries a retaining clip 12% which is Welded thereto andwhich is adapted to retain the cutter drum supports 122. An adjustingblock 125 is welded to each of the crank arms 1% and threaded adjustingbolts 126 are used to urge the cutter dr supports 1.22 away from thecrank arms This enables any slack to be taken out of the endless chain50. The cutter drum supports carry bearing members 124 through which theshaft '76 extends.

The cutter drums 74 have a plurality of annularly spaced spirally curvedcutter blade elements r26 integrally formed therewith which terinicuttin: edges 12 If exceedingly hard material 13 being excavated, thecutter drum illustrated in Figure 8 say no used. This cutter drum 130 isprovided with cutter blade elements E32 which are provided with grooves33% therein for reception of cutter blades 136 provided with teeth 138and secured thereto by means of screws 1443 or other fasteners. As thecutter drum 74 or 130 rotates the substance being excavated and loadedwill he carried upward within the cup-shaped confines between thehelical cutter blade elements 126 or 132 and by centrifugal forcedirected and thrown upwardly. A curved battle shield 142 is mounted overthe cutter drum 74 space between the guard 62 and the conveyor 46 and"onto the conveyor 46 whence it is carried upwardly and deposited uponthe chute 14- for loading into a dump truck or other vehicle.

Since from the foregoing, the construction and advantages of thisexcavating and loading machine are readily apparent, further descriptionis believed to be unnecessary.

However, since numerous modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specificationand accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the invention tothe precise embodiment shown and described, but all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be readily resorted to as desired.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An excavating and loading machine comprising a vehicle, a conveyorframe mounted for pivotal movement at its upper end on said vehicle, anendless belt conveyor about said frame, hydraulic means for pivotingsaid conveyor to raise and lower the free end of said conveyor securedto said frame and said vehicle, a cutter drum carrier, a cutter drumjournalled on said carrier, drive means for actuating said conveyor androtating said cutter drum, said drive means being entrained about ashaft journalled in said conveyor frame, hydraulically actuated meansfor pivoting said carrier relative to said frame, said carrier includinga pair of crank arms each having a pair of sockets, one socket of eachpair of said sockets of each of said crank arms being rotatably mountedon an end of said shaft, the other socket of each pair of said socketshaving said hydraulically actuated means pivotally mounted therein, andcutter drum supports carried by said crank arms, said cutter drum beingrotatably carried by said cutter supports, and means for urging thecutter drum supports away from the crank arms including clips secured tosaid crank arms, adjusting blocks secured to said crank arms, andthreaded adjusting bolts threadedly secured in said a justing blocksengaging said cutter drum supports.

2. An excavating and loading machine comprising a vehicle, a conveyorframe mounted for pivotal movement at its upper end on said vehicle, anendless belt conveyor about said frame, hydraulic means for pivotingsaid conveyor to raise and lower the free end of said conveyor securedto said frame and said vehicle, a cutter drum carrier, a cutter drumjournalled on said carrier, drive means for actuating said conveyor androtating said cutter drum, said drive means being entrained about ashaft journalled in said conveyor frame, hydraulically actuated meansfor pivoting said carrier relative to said frame, said carrier includinga pair of crank arms each having a pair of sockets, one socket of eachpair of said sockets of each of said crank arms being rotatably mountedon an end of said shaft, the other socket of each pair of said socketshaving said hydraulically actuated means pivotally mounted therein, andcutter drum supports carried by said crank arms, said cutter drum beingrotatabiy carried by said cutter supports, and means for urging thecutter drum supports away from the crank arms including clips secured tosaid crank arms, adjusting blocks secured to said crank arms, andthreaded adjusting bolts threadedly secured in said adjusting blocksengaging said cutter drum supports, a baille shield positioned over saidcutting drum, said vehicle carrying a chute, said chute being inalignment with the upper end of said conveyor, said cutting drum beingmounted on a driven shaft, said driven shaft including a torqueconverter for compensating for shock to said cutting drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS839,179 McCoy Dec. 25, 1906 1,269,098 Latta June 11, 1918 1,790,315Meserve et a1. Ian. 27, 193 1 2,287,230 Cartlidge June 23, 19422,353,094 Veneziano July 4, 1944 2,393,563 Petterson Ian. 22, 19462,426,507 Inksetter Aug. 26, 1947 2,627,680 Schulte et a1. Feb. .10,1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 406,809 Germany Dec. 3, 1924 OTHER REFERENCESRosebrough: Fluid Drive for Mining Machinery, Mining Congress Journal,pp. 3034, Dec. 1941.

